7 Startling discoveries
by RedAndBlond
Summary: Some questions are answered, the crew is made aware of the relationship between captain Janeway and Seven of Nine.


Title: Startling discoveries Author: Savé.

Fandom: ST:VOY Pairing: J/7

Rating: NC-17 Story number: 7/?

Disclaimers:-The usual: no copyright infringement intended, characters belong to Paramount, I don't own anything,…

-My undying respect and love for Jeri Ryan, Kate Mulgrew and the rest of the cast of Voyager

-Please don't copy or post without my authorisation (I like to know where my stories hang out ;) )

-Story contains women in love, so if you're offended by that, I'll gladly show you the way out ;)

-Extra Autor's Note: First of all, I'd like to apologize for disappearing for so long, some stuff happened in my life and I stopped writing for a while, and it was incredibly hard starting up again. This also means I'm a bit rusty. I don't know when I'll update this next, and it occurred to me that I don't really know where exactly I'm taking this, so if anyone has any ideas, please let me know. That being said, if you're still reading my stories, a big thank you to you, and I'd also like to thank everyone who has taken the time to review and favourite my stories. I'm sorry I haven't been thanking people individually, but still: thank you!

Startling discoveries

It's Rasite today, the Talaxian holiday that celebrates the day when the two suns of Talax are positioned on the exact opposites of the planet, so the entire Talaxian world bathes in sunlight. It's a happy holiday, traditionally the entire world celebrates with massive feasts in the open air, families come together and disputes are laid to rest or worked out.

The crew of the USS Voyager had been under a lot of pressure lately, mainly brought on by the constant stress being in a previously uncharted territory, not knowing whether those who contacted them were friends or enemies, or when they would get across a planet that holds edible food or resources before they ran out, and, most of all, not knowing if they would ever see their loved ones and their home planets again in the Alpha quadrant.

Neelix, a Talaxian trader who accompanied the Voyager crew initially as their guide trough the Delta quadrant, and now as their cook and morale officer, had noticed this, and, seeing how Rasite would be soon, he'd asked the Captain of the ship for permission to celebrate the holiday with the rest of the crew, as a way of boosting he morale.

The Captain agreed, having noticed the tension her crew was under, agreed that they needed a way to relieve some of the stress they were feeling, and what better way than a party? So now, a few days after that particular conversation Neelix was decorating the mess hall with festive decorations, the tables had been pushed together to form a long buffet table that hosted a large variety of foods all trough the Delta and the Alpha quadrant, the chairs were placed in small circles so friends could sit together, several stands with popular games were placed around the room and a rather large part of the floor had been made into a dance floor. The computer was playing a mix of popular songs while holodeck one was playing a program of Earth and holodeck two played a simulation of Talax on the day of Rasite, that Tom Paris had developed with the help of Neelix.

The stocky Talaxian was just making sure everything was perfect when the first crewmen came in. The entire crew had been informed about the holiday and had been anticipating this day, so it didn't take long for most of the crew to make it to the party.

People were mingling, playing games, eating and dancing happily when Neelix saw the Captain come in, holding hands with Seven of Nine. He always thought the Captain was lonely and that she should let somebody in, but while he loved Seven dearly he hadn't thought she would be the one to break the Captains walls down. Now he thought about it, though, he figured it made sense, as he reminded himself of all the time the two spent together.

While he had seen the Captain in casual clothing before, he had never seen Seven wear anything but her biosuits, which was a shame he figured, since she looked much more approachable and... human in casual wear. Seven was wearing off-white linen pants and a deep blue button down shirt that brought out the colour of her eyes, making them more of a warm blue instead of the icy hue they held most times. Her hair was loose, framing her face beautifully, and she was wearing a very fine golden chain with a tiny pendant with a precious gem on it.

It was when he saw Seven fingering the charm that he notices that she was nervous, so he walked over to them with a bright smile on his face.

"Seven! Captain Janeway! How lovely to see the two of you here! Please, get some food."

The Captain smiled at him and he saw the corners of Seven's lips turn slightly up, which he knew to be a smile from her. Several members of the crew looked at them, surprise evident on their faces at first at the sight of their Captain with the former drone, but then B'Elanna seemed to drag Tom over and greeted Seven and the Captain enthusiastically. It wasn't long before she, Tom, the Captain and Seven were conversing lightly, and not much later Harry Kim joined the four.

Neelix went to the food to make sure there was still enough of everything and surreptitiously watched the crew. The confusion and surprise from earlier seemed to have made place for acceptation, excitement and happiness over the fact that the Captain whom they all loved and respected deeply had found love for herself. It did seem as though this particular bit of information would be the topic of conversation for the time being...

Seven and the Captain were standing by the buffet, watching the crew interact and let loose when Kathryn looked at her and murmured softly

"That necklace looks wonderful on you, love."

Seven smiled shyly as she glanced back at Kathryn.

"Thank you for giving it to me. It is beautiful Kathryn. Bu why did you give it to me? It belonged to your grandmother, wouldn't she want you to keep it?"

At that Kathryn just looked at her with a loving smile.

"And that's exactly why I wanted to give it to you. It holds a lot of value to me because it was my grandmother's and I loved her, and she told me to give it to the love of my life or, if that was a man to my daughter and since you're the person I want to spend the rest of my life with, I wanted to give it to you."

As she looked at Seven, she saw that her eyes were slightly moist but she kept the tears away. Instead, she gave her a brilliant smile that seems to light up the entire mess hall and then leaned down and kissed her sweetly on the lips.

"I love you, Kathryn. And I, too, want to spend the rest of my existence loving you."

They just stood there, smiling at each other like lovesick teenagers or a while until they were interrupted by a slurred rambling coming their way.

"Kathryn! Why're you wast'ng your time withthat Borg? You cn have me! Im here! Jus' c'me wih me and' I'lll marr-y you an' you'll have me babie an'"

Then Chakotay slumped down on the floor, unconscious. The glass of ale he had been holding shattered in a dozen pieces on the floor. The entire mess hall fell silent and stared at the commander, speechless. An undeniable stench of alcohol wafted off him. The Doctor immediately came over to check he was breathing, and then had both of them transported to sick bay. Janeway and Seven immediately went to the exit on their way to sick bay and were soon accompanied by Tuvok and several security officers. As they left, the partygoers started talking again, this time in disbelief and shock, about the first officer.

As the group arrived in sick bay, the Doctor came over to them with a look of profound disbelief on his face.

"He's completely drunk, Captain. And from my readings it seems that in the last few weeks he has been drinking excessivly and camouflaging it by giving himself injections to keep the smell from manifesting itself."

"So you're saying he's been drunk these past few days? While he was on duty? Without anyone noticing? I find that to be very hard to believe, Doctor."

Janeway said, incredulous.

"Actually, that's exactly what I'm saying. The Commander has been drinking large amounts of alcohol over the past few days and then administered a hypospray that counteracted the outward manifestations like the smell and the uncoordination, but for all intents and purposes, he was still drunk."

"That is very helpful, doctor, however, it does not explain why the Commander drank so much."

Tuvok interjected.

"I don't know why he'd do it either, I'm just telling you he did it. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some testing tubes that need my attention as well."

The Doctor turned but was stopped by Janeway's voice.

"And Chakotay? Aren't you going to wake him up?"

"No Captain, I'll let him sleep it off for now. I'll contact you once he wakes up."

"Very well. Tuvok, take your men to search Chakotay's quarters, I want to know what set him down this road. I want a report on my desk before 21:00."

"Yes, Captain."

Tuvok walked out of the sickbay, and once he walked past the doors the men he took with him from the mess hall followed him as he explained what they would be looking for in the first officer's quarters.

"Well, I don't feel like partying much more tonight, how about we just call it a night?"

Kathryn offered. Seven considered it for a moment and calculated how long it had been since her last regeneration.

"Indeed. I do need to regenerate and it does not seem likely that we will receive any answers towards the Commander's behaviour tonight. Goodnight , Kathryn."

"Sleep tight, love"

Seven leaned in and pecked her lightly on the lips before leaving for cargo bay two. Not soon after, The Captain left for her quarters as well. The following morning, after waking up and drinking her first cup of coffee, the Captain went to check on Chakotay before going to the bridge, as she usually would.

"Ah. Good morning Captain, I have some good news for you, and some bad news as well. It seems that, after being rejected by you, Commander Chakotay, heartbroken, overrode the commands that make it impossible to replicate alcohol, and made it a habit to drink quite regularly. After a while, as was quite regular in earlier times, he became dependant on the substance, and developed an addiction to it. But, I have done some research and am quite certain I can get him through it now. Would you like to talk to him? I must warn you, he is suffering from a condition that used to be called a 'hangover' back when alcohol was regularly consumed."

"No thank you Doctor, I just wanted to know if he'll be alright."

"He will be. It will be a long and hard road, as I have found out, but he will make it."

"Very well. Carry on then."

On her way to the bridge, Kathryn was met by Tuvok, who filled her in on what he had found. Inside Chakotay's quarters, a large amount of holopictures were found depicting Kathryn in situations on Voyager and back on Earth, the last of which were probably taken from the databanks, going back to when she first started at the academy and even one where she was riding a horse when she was 14 years old, a picture her father had taken.

Besides that, they found several glasses and bottles that once contained alcoholic beverages that hadn't been recycled into the replicator system, and dirty clothing, dinner plates and PADDs scattered around the rooms. Tuvok had come to the same conclusion as the Doctor, namely that Chakotay had feelings for her, obsessive feelings as it would seem, and being rejected and subsequently 'replaced' in his mind had made him turn towards something that would numb the pain.

"Oh boy."

Kathryn breathed out. It did not seem as if her first officer would be in any shape to do his job any time soon, the crew had just learned and seemed to be coping well with her relationship with Seven, they were, as had been the case for the last few years, in unknown territory far from home, and the party that was meant to help her crewmembers relax had ended on her first officer getting drunk and subsequently passing out. The crew of Voyager was in desperate need of a place to relax and come to themselves, and so did her Captain.

But, the Doctor would be working with Chakotay, the crew did seem to be accepting her and Seven's relationship, and they hadn't been attacked in a week, so things just might work out. That didn't change that she was going to send a message to the astrometrics lab to look for a planet where they could hold shore leave and have some much needed R&R. Or perhaps she could go down there herself and visit the love of her life with a legitimate excuse, she smiled to herself.

TBC…


End file.
